Mercurial
by nin-anna
Summary: Aomine Daiki is enjoying a night of perfect solitude at the police station during Christmas Eve but his peace is soon interrupted by a mercurial blond, very much drenched in the rain and perhaps a little scared, very captivating nevertheless.


_I suck at writing oneshots so I am trying to improve my skills at it and what better way than to practice with my most favourite silly dorky couple? :)_

* * *

Aomine Daiki was enjoying the rare night of pure silence and serenity at the station. Christmas Eve did not only mean the most peaceful night duty of the year, but also extra pay and thus had become his favourite, actually his sole favourite, night duty in the whole year. In the last few years he had signed up for the duty on Christmas Eve every time that now they assigned it to him without asking.

But really, what could he ask for? A silent office, nobody disturbing him as he looked through the newest issue of his favourite gravure magazine and sipped some delicious coffee he himself brew and did not have to share with anyone.

He would soon learn though that he should not have expressed such appreciation of his current luck, because like always he had jinxed it. A completely wet mop of blond hair was the first to be seen through the door of the office, which was devoid of anyone but Aomine; not that Aomine realised the head that was timidly looking around. When the honey coloured eyes came upon the only police officer in the whole flat, currently reclining as if he was lying down on his chair, a cup in one hand, a magazine in the other, under a soothing light – the other tables had their lamps turned off, their chairs empty – a scream of relief escaped the lips of the blond male:

"Oh! There is indeed someone! What a relief!"

His voice was high pitched and too loud and caused Aomine who had been so focused on the pictures of barely clothed women on his magazine to freak out and wince for a moment, completely not expecting a visitor nor such a loud exclamation in the silent serenity of his night duty.

"Uh? What are you doing here?" was his first reaction as he sized up the blond who had rushed in front of his desk by now. He was a young man around his own age mid to late twenties probably, blond with a slightly long hair cut, he had honey coloured eyes, full lips, a blue earring on one of his ears, and was quite tall and well built. He was also wearing what seemed to be expensive and fancy clothes, not that Aomine was an expert in clothes, bulk of his own wardrobe was of black tshirts and sweatpants. Oh, and the man in front of him was completely drenched. Must have been walking in the rain. Why would anybody walk in the rain? In a cold Christmas Eve, too.

"Um... I think I am being stalked."

Aomine raised an eyebrow at that; he had never gotten a complaint of a man being stalked. Not that it was completely unseen, but it was rare, he had to admit that when it came to being perverted stalkers men were more likely to be perpetrators than victims. But then perhaps the stalker here was a man too; the blond was extremely good looking even in wet clothes and slightly shaking from cold. He had a very pretty face and an athletic body. Aomine had his bicurious phase as a teenager and he could guess the type of man in front of him would be very popular with both men and women. Not that stalkers or perverts necessarily targeted beautiful people; anybody could become the target of such deranged, obsessive individuals. This was out of ordinary, nevertheless.

"Ah... you... you don't believe me? But I really am!"

His voice was a little desperate and so was his gaze and Aomine felt a little guilty for causing man to feel distrusted,

"I did not say I do not believe you. It is the victim's report that we base our suspicions on. If you are saying you are being stalked, I believe you."

The blond gave a sigh of relief and sat onto one of the chairs that was in front of Aomine. Realising that there would be no quick end to this, Aomine sighed, not of relief but of disappointment of his perfect peace and "me time" being invaded like this, and put down his magazine. His duty was calling after all.

"So what happened exactly?"

"I was having fun with friends in a bar. I did not drink much though, was only slightly tipsy when I left the bar..."

"It wouldn't make a difference even if you were drunk. I am guessing you did not drive, which is good."

"Oh, of course not! Drunk driving! Oh God, no, never. I hate irresponsible people like that. I took a cab. My house is in this neighbourhood and I was not feeling very well, so I got off a bit early and you know wanted to vomit in a trash can or something, breath a bit. Then maybe walk home..."

Kise sighed and felt that inside of his mouth was very dry, considering how wet rest of his body was it almost seemed like a miracle; a very irritating miracle nonetheless.

"Um... can I get some water? My mouth feels dry and funny..."

Kise's eyes were stuck on the cup of coffee that was giving off alluring fumes into the cool air though and Aomine could not ignore it,

"Do you want a cup of coffee as well?"

"Ah! If you can, God that would be amazing!"

"Sure."

Less than five minutes later Aomine was back with a cup of coffee and a glass of water; in all honesty, he hated serving people who came to the station. But then, he could not help being extra nice to victims and he also could not help it considering how wet and cold the man in front of him was. It also was not very irritating to see how happy he got at just a cup of coffee either... "_It is only a cup of coffee, for God's sake_" Aomine thought as he sat back.

"Oh My God! This is delicious!"

"It is just coffee."

"But it is delicious! Did you actually brew it?"

"Yes."

"Wow! You are so talented! I suck at these things... I once got a really expensive espresso machine as a gift, you know with full set of features and accessories and stuff, like those they use at coffeehouses. But I sucked at using it so much, almost burnt my hand once, finally I had to return it and instead got one of those machines where you just press a button and your coffee is ready but it is really tasteless. I mean it is okay usually, does the job, but you know nothing like this. This is so good."

The childish excitement and cheer the man showed was just too much for Aomine, he was not sure if the man in front of him was simply mocking him or was being sincere but then there was such an obvious sincerity to his dilated pupils and slightly reddened cheeks and excited voice that Aomine really could not doubt his sincerity. "_Perhaps he is one of those_" he thought, "_one of those guys who are all bubbly and happy go lucky..._"

"So you were talking about your stalker?"

The cheerful excitement on young man's face was erased in an instant and his lips pressed together in a subtle scowl, his eyebrows furrowed, his gaze intensified, trying to remember every detail of what happened.

"It was then I realised that there was actually a car behind the cab, that car had stopped too with the cab. I tried to find a trash can near by... you know, to vomit a bit, to just calm down my stomach and thought that the car thing, it must be just my imagination. But then I realised the car just did not move. And when I got a little further away, finally found a trash can, I looked back and saw a man getting out of the car. Luckily, I was in a crowded street, I tried to calm myself down saying that it was just coincidence..."

Kise paused for a second and took a large sip from his coffee, the hotness must have hurt his mouth that he gave a hurt look for a split second and opened his a mouth just a tad bit larger to breath in more air, then he quickly gulped down some water. Aomine was not sure just how and why the man was so expressive or just why the heck he found these small expressions to be so interesting.

"I continued walking, keeping an eye on the man at my peripheral vision, and he just kept on following me. I could not discern how his face looked or anything at all, it is dark you know and then it started raining too. I was not sure what to do, I took a sudden turn into another street and he did too. I did again and he followed. It was getting really scary and I was not sure what to do and I was being... well drenched in the rain and it is cold outside you know, I thought of confronting him but well... I was once told that such confrontations are not good. In any case, I am really not good at confronting people. Then I remembered that there was a police station nearby, so I came here but you know the street in front of the station is rather deserted so I was really scared. The police officer who was at the cubicle at the entrance told me to go upstairs but it seemed the whole place was empty, so I was relieved to find you here!"

"Whoever told you that confronting stalkers like that is no good, told you good. It is good that you came here; you should never confront them yourself. Station is unusually empty because of the timing... you know, Christmas Eve."

"Ah! Yeah... makes sense. And well, it was police who told me that actually."

"You had previous encounters with stalkers?"

For some reason the blond man felt shy at that,

"Yes..."

"You don't have to feel shy. It is not your fault."

The blond man blinked a few times and a nice smile adorned his face,

"You are right. I wish everyone thought like you."

"Well... they should. Could this man be the same as your previous stalker?"

"I don't think so... I have had quite a few stalkers. I am actually... a model. Since my career launched I have had more troubles like this."

"Ah I see..." Aomine said and he thought "_I knew it! His face looks so familiar..."_

He looked at the man in front of him intently, just where could he have seen him before? Maybe on a billboard? Or a commercial on TV? Or perhaps a magazine? Not that he read any magazines other than those of gravure models. He had not been aware that his intense gaze had caused the blond to become rather timid,

"Um... are you a fan?"

"Huh? Ah, no way" Aomine snorted at that almost immediately and this caused the timid face of the man in front of him to turn into a sour one,

"I see. Your interests seem... _different_, yeah." Blond gave a mockingly curious look at the gravure magazine on Aomine's desk and then to Aomine himself, a very judging look.

Aomine did not like being judged on his tastes but then he did not care much about it either, so he shook his shoulders a bit in indifference and instead rummaged through his cabinet to find a form.

"Here, fill this up."

"Thanks... Um... Is there anything I can change into? Or at least a blanket or jacket or something?"

"Huh?"

"I am drenched. If you have not realised it. And it is rather... cold here?"

Aomine nodded his head and went to find something, anything for the man to put on. Luckily, his partner, Kagami Taiga almost always kept a clean pair of sweatpants and jersey at the office and sizing up the man from behind once more Aomine was sure that their builds were close enough for it to be a good fit. He also found a small blanket and brought them.

"Where can I change?"

"You can use the toilets, at the end of the corridor, over there." Aomine pointed as he looked through the form; it was only half filled so far.

"_Couldn't he write faster?_" he cursed inside a bit, giving a yearning look at the Horikita Mai who was on the cover of his much loved magazine; he had waited in line to get this one...

The blond changed much faster than Aomine thought he would, he was back just a few minutes later.

"Sorry, I had not finished filling up the form yet." When Aomine lifted up his gaze he had to admit that he had never seen those stupid department issue jersey-sweatpants pairs to ever look so good on anyone. Hell, if department made this guy model for them in those, perhaps more people from the police force would actually start wearing them instead of throwing them to the rubbish bin the first day they are received. He was right in the sizing as well; even though the man had a beautiful face with what one would call feminine features, a thorough and thorough "pretty boy", his body was quite athletic. It was not an easy feat to fit so well into Kagami's size, indeed in the whole station it was only Aomine and Kagami who had similar builds, everyone else was at least 2 sizes smaller.

As these thoughts went through his mind, the man had already sat down to his spot back again and was filling up the form silently, except the few gulp sounds he made as he sipped from his coffee. It felt odd that he was silent. For God's sake, why was Aomine thinking that this was odd? He had no clue; he did not know this man, he had met him only like what, fifteen minutes ago? Half an hour at top, why was he all of a sudden thinking that the blond was "_unusually_" quiet? How can you decide somebody to be acting "_unusual_" if you don't know how they are "_usually_"? He was being delusional. Unnecessarily involved. "_Hmm... Is it because of the comment I made?_" he could not help but think, these models and celebrities, they could sometimes be very capricious, especially when somebody could not recognise them. Well, their job depended on them being known so it was not a surprise perhaps; Aomine had experience with this, he had been assigned as a bodyguard to some idol once, it had been the worst assignment of his whole career. But then the man in front of him did not look so egotistic or arrogant or spoiled. He should have welcomed this silence but somehow it was disturbing him. Then it hit him.

"Haagen-Dazs!"

"Huh?"

"You were in that Haagen-Dazs advert. They put it on huge billboards at the subway station two blocks away."

"Oh..." The blond's face quickly donned a shy blush and Aomine was puzzled why the man was being shy, after all he had only commented on something about his work as a model. One thing to note though was that the blush rather suited him beautifully; his skin was so pale, perhaps even more pale tonight due to the cold wetness of the rain it had to endure as well as the chill of the December night... Thus the shades of pink and red blinking over his cheeks and up somehow felt like a natural adornment.

"My best friend loves that ice-cream so we eat it a lot. That's why..." Aomine tried to explain though he was not sure why was he explaining in the first place however a giddy smile had already taken over the previously silent and slightly stoic face of the blond.

"I really liked working on that project! I like that ice-cream a lot too. Especially their dark chocolate ones... Oh and the strawberry too. I cannot eat much though..." he mumbled as he returned the now filled form to Aomine who reviewed it carefully.

"This looks good..."

"Can I ask a favour?"

"Yes?"

"Can I stay a bit more?"

Seeing Aomine's puzzled face, the blond – who was apparently named Kise Ryouta, now Aomine knew, thanks to the form, and felt rather stupid for not asking the name of a person reporting a crime in the first place, for God's sake, it was basics, it was one of the things they were taught as cadets, why was he acting so stupid tonight – tried to explain:

"I am afraid the man might still be hiding outside... for me to get out, you know."

Aomine thought for it a for a second, well, he had not planned to ask the man to go home by himself anyway; both the protocol and Aomine's own code of ethics dictated taking him home in the face of the current danger.

"I was going to take you home actually. In this kind of cases, we do not let the victims to go home by themselves anyway."

"Ah thanks... But can we leave a bit later then?"

Aomine was really puzzled now; why did a model want to spend more time in a partially deserted police station in Christmas Eve?! With him of all people?! Aomine was a proud man but even he knew that he was not good company. Didn't this man have a girlfriend to go home to? Even if he didn't, he could probably easily get one. Like, in a minute. He could literally enter a bar, ask for a girl for the night, and at least a few women would be game. He had the face and the body and Aomine had seen enough of his gestures to understand that this was a charming man. Seeing the confusion on Aomine's face, Kise tried to explain further,

"I am... afraid. Of going out right now. Even with someone. I don't think I want to be home alone either... in darkness and rain and stuff too. I just don't feel good... about it."

He gave a helpless sigh and the distress could be clearly read from his eyes; it must have been hard to admit it. Aomine felt stupid and insensitive for making the guy admit it.

"If you want to stay here a bit more, better for me, since it is still raining. Forecast says it should get better in a few hours. We will maybe go... near dawn?"

It was past 2 am anyway, Aomine thought. And he had to stay at the station, awake, till morning anyway. Then he realised that he would not be able to reunite with his beloved magazine and serene solitude if the bubbly blond stayed till the morning and he swallowed hard, "_damn_" he thought, why was he sacrificing so much for this stranger? Well, it was his duty calling too. He was just being a good and dutiful officer, he wanted to think.

Then, in a second as he saw the various changes Kise's face went through, and thought that regardless of the talk of duty or honour or how attractive Horikita Mai was in that red swimsuit, he had done the right thing. The blond in front of him went from helpless and distressed, to content, to happy, to excited, to almost crying with joy; his lips were in a big smile that showed even his teeth and how was this possible, why was even his teeth so perfectly shaped and pure white, and his eyes almost sparked with glee. It was like a child on the morning of Christmas and then it was kind of Christmas and Aomine did wonder what kind of a face did this man make as a child on Christmas mornings, if they celebrated the whole thing like Americans did...

"Thank you! Thank you very much Aominecchi!" The man exclaimed, his voice pitch higher than before, excitement clear in every syllable and all Aomine could say in response was,

"What? What did you call me just now?"

"Huh? Um... in this tag here on your table it says Aomine Daiki."

"Yes."

"So? Aominecchi?"

"It says Aomine Daiki. It does not say Aominecchi."

Blond simply laughed at that, a wholehearted and careless laugh; how could his emotions change so much so fast? Kise Ryouta was surely mercurial and Aomine thought that it somehow suited the man.

"Obviously it is not, but I... I just wanted to give a nickname I guess."

"Why would you do that?" There was some surprise and a lot of despair on Aomine's face as he asked that and Kise seemed to find this even more humorous, he crossed his legs and answered and Aomine thought even crossing his legs like that suited this man,

"I don't know. No particular reason I guess." He said, smiling, and hell there must have been a particular reason, his eyes hinted at a particular reason, Aomine was just not sure what it was. Perhaps it was this man's hobby to play around with people's names to mock them. Perhaps he gave nicknames based on some weird categorisation and there was some hidden meaning, a hidden set of categories now Aomine was associated with, but he did not know and why did he care about this in the first place? Why was he losing his ever-present coolness and indifference so frequently tonight?!

He sighed. And with a sigh went all the weird thoughts that had quickly accumulated in his mind regarding the nickname. His coffee had grown cold. So he got up,

"You are going?"

There was almost fear in the honey orbs and Aomine thought to himself, "_mercurial, indeed_" – one minute Summer, in the next Autumn – he raised the cup in his hand,

"Going to get another cup."

"Oh, can you get one for me too? Pretty please?"

Did Aomine look like a person who would do things because of "pretty please"? Was this man just mocking him? Was he trying to drive him mad? First stupid nicknames and now was Aomine going to be his personal waiter, for what, a set of ridiculously large and cute puppy eyes and "pretty please"? Aomine sighed and grabbed the cup Kise had already raised and offered without saying anything. Why was he fulfilling the request without throwing a fit? He had no idea. People were usually too wary of him to ask for anything from him and when they did he would be so reluctant or mocking that they usually never bothered again. There were only a few exceptions to this rule; Kagami, for example, he would be very reluctant and rude to him but always help. Similarly for Kuroko Tetsuya. Then obviously for Momoi Satsuki but then he never really threw a tantrum against Satsuki, his best friend, for God knows, Satsuki would so not take his crap, she would just torture him till he did what she asked for and knowing this he almost always fulfilled her requests, with reluctance of course, albeit a lesser reluctance than he showed to anyone else.

Here he was now, without any blatant show of reluctance or dissatisfaction or anger, with two cups of hot coffee in his hands returning to his desk and one of these cups was not for him. Was he whipped? Had a stranger managed to get him whipped in perhaps less than an hour? He must have been delusional. Yes. Delusional. And just as he had arrived at his desk he realised Kise looking at a photo. He did not say anything and put the cup in front of Kise silently but Kise almost jumped.

A jump of pure joy, it seemed to be.

"Oh My God! Aominecchi! Is this you?"

"Yes" Aomine said and he thought that if he listened to this high pitched, constantly excited, frequently loud voice all the time he would probably have headaches but then why was he even thinking of the possibility of listening to this voice all the time? He would not hear it again after tonight, surely, so he just had to endure it for the night.

"You look so cool! Amazing! I didn't know you were a basketball player."

Aomine gave him a confused look; "_obviously you don't know idiot, we just met!_" was the right kind of response to give but Aomine had just two weeks ago gotten a warning after he had talked very... _unprofessionally_ during an interrogation, and... had treated the suspect very _unprofessionally_ too, so he really had to be careful with his choice of words with the blond now.

"I played in high school."

"This is so cool! You are almost like... flying! You are so amazing! Mmm... the coffee is so good too, again! Wow you are talented in everything. So good."

Well, Aomine had to admit that this excited and cheerful tone did sound nicer when it was praising him. He had always been a proud person with an ego much larger than average human being out there so yes, it did make him feel better, superior to be appreciated; especially by an established model of all people.

"I was very good; I am very good in basketball..."

"It is obvious! I mean wow... You seem to be enjoying it so much though here, pure euphoria. I have done all kinds of sports but I manage to master them so easily so I never really enjoy them much..."

"That does not sound very realistic."

"Oh but I am being honest. Cross my heart!" Kise made a small cross like gesture over his chest and Aomine almost giggled at that, he was like an overexcited child and for some reason it looked... really cute on him.

"Fine. I would beat you so bad in basketball though."

"I never really tried basketball and you do look amazing... Hmm.. I don't know."

"You don't know? Well, I _do_ know. I would beat you. I would wipe the floor up with you." Aomine said as he reclined a little on his chair, sipping from his coffee, an arrogant smirk tugged to his lips. Of all the faces he had seen of Kise that night, he saw yet another one he had not seen; just how many gestures or faces could this man make? In such a short period of time too. Here he was, looking intensely and intently at Aomine, his thumb slightly rubbing on the framed photograph in his hand as though it was a threatening move; there was something almost predatory in his gaze and the slight smirk his lips made... It would be very intimidating to most people, luckily, Aomine Daiki was not most people so instead of intimidating it seemed rather... attractive? Enticing? Interesting? In any case, he was interested. A second later, Kise put the photograph back to its place in silence, now almost sizing up Aomine with his eyes. What was he trying to get at? Was he trying to calculate just how much power Aomine could muster in his body?

"Well... If you were that good, why didn't you become a professional?"

Aomine shrugged his shoulders,

"I like basketball, hell, I love it, but I am fine as long as I have good people to play it with. I just play it because I love it. Not because I necessarily think of it as a profession."

"That's interesting" the blond mumbled, his voice was softer now and he was holding the cup of coffee in both his hands. He had slouched a little, cup was around his chin, he looked... a little childish. Gone was the alluring duelling face of a moment ago, now he was an innocent and slightly curious child... How did he do this? These sudden changes... Aomine was impressed, actually.

After a few minutes of silence, only interrupted by gulps of hot coffee on each side of the table, Kise mentioned being in a magazine photoshoot once with Horikita Mai and Aomine was instantly very interested and Kise must have had guessed that this topic would interest him, because he had this slightly mischievous look in his eyes. Then they talked about modelling a bit, or rather Kise talked and complained about it while Aomine listened silently. Then Aomine brought their third round of coffees for the night (it was actually the sixth for Aomine, but who was counting? They had a whole night to go through anyway!) and he even brought some donuts, left overs from the morning and Kise was very happy, as happy as a human could possibly be at these, he must have been very hungry and Aomine thought, as the blond devoured the sweets, that somehow it was soothing to watch Kise eat or drink and he also thought that this thought was very, very weird of him. Then they talked about the rain and just why the heck had it not yet stopped and Kise joked about how drenched he was under the rain but he had not realised it at all for he had been very scared, he had only realised it fully when changing because even his underwear were completely wet, and for some reason this brought the rather dirty idea of "_what is his underwear like?"_ to Aomine's mind and he tried very hard later to dispel this particular thought. But really, what would they be like? "_Must be very colourful and fashionable_" Aomine could not help thinking. Then they talked about weather, Kise complained about cold and Aomine joined him in these complaints, it seemed neither liked the cold weather, it seemed both were very much children of the bright sun and azure skies and of Summer, anything of Summer, really. Then Aomine made some more coffee for them and this particular task would repeat itself again and again and by the last repeat, it had become almost a habit, in the short span of time and the few repetitions, somehow, Aomine really did not mind making coffee for his stranger and found some kind of pride and joy as the man, every single time, would exclaim about just how delicious the coffee was. And Aomine knew he was being sincere, it looked exaggerated as hell and was probably exaggerated as hell because yes, he did make good coffee, but only the second best coffee even in their station, that damned Kagami made a better cup of joe than him surely; but even if it was exaggerated, it was not fake at all, there was an innocent sincerity in Kise's face and Aomine liked that.

They talked.

They talked.

And they talked.

Kise laughed. Kise pouted. Kise smiled. Kise frowned. Kise furrowed his brows. Kise made silly faces. Kise giggled. Kise pursed his lips. Kise smirked. Kise made puppy eyes. Kise winked. Kise stuck out his tongue and really, which other adult did that to a police officer in a police station in the middle of the night? Kise did. Probably only Kise. And Aomine was astonished at the pace of this man's familiarity, at the pace of this man's world, at the pace of this man's face, at the pace of this man's eyes, at the pace of this man's lips, at the pace of this man's voice... It was irritating at first, it was still irritating at times, but mostly, it was, dare he say it, endearing and amusing. It humoured Aomine. It was like a one-man-theatre-troupe and somehow it knew just which jokes to make for Aomine. And then there were moments, rare moments, Kise said something serious, there was an incredible allure to his words and small smiles or small frowns whenever he did that; whether content or contempt, somehow looked dazzling on this man's face, in this man's voice, from this man's lips...

And Aomine thought at least twice that night, before the dawn, that perhaps, perhaps just by a remote small chance, his bicurious phase had not been over in his teenage years. Perhaps. "_Oh no_", he shook his head a little whenever the thought popped up, "_nope, I like Horikita Mai and I like big breasts and..._" his thoughts would falter away at some new face Kise was pulling.

When the first rays of light announced the coming of the new day, neither of the duo was feeling tired or sleepy. Sure a slight fatigue had built up in their bodies, from sitting, but that was it mostly; truthfully, they had not understood just how fast the night had gone by. Under the shining light of the sun, Kise closed his eyes gracefully, and the sunlight bathed him and it seemed so natural; like a god of sun, his still slightly damp hair almost sparkled under the light, Aomine realised just how thick and long the man's eyelashes were and they fluttered slowly and slightly and oh so beautifully under the sunlight... He seemed ethereal almost and Aomine could not believe that he thought this of a man, perhaps he was sleepier than he felt. Kise opened his eyes slowly, so slowly that Aomine held his breath watching it, as if it was a morning glory blooming peacefully with the rising sun; the analogy somehow, Aomine thought, fit Kise very well. Perhaps, this man was a flower who bloomed with the sun, and the light, and the warmth and oh God, had he just made an analogy likening a grown adult man to a flower? He would doubt himself of being intoxicated, but he was very sure that the only thing he drank that night was the coffee he himself had made and he had not spiked it.

Kise got up and stretched a bit,

"So... I guess we have to go. You will take me home right?"

"Yes." Aomine said as he grabbed his jacket and then realised Kise looking at the clothes on him,

"Oh you can keep those for now... You can bring them later. Your clothes are still wet right?"

"Yes they are. Thank you Aominecchi!"

Aomine made a gesture with his hand signalling that it was nothing, why didn't he actually say, clearly utter that Kise was welcome, oh so very welcome? He did not know. Actually, he knew. Why was he so self-conscious with this man?

When they went out, Aomine carefully canvassed the surroundings with his eyes first, there seemed to be nobody suspicious.

"Is your house close?"

"It is a couple of blocks away..."

"Hmm... it may still be better to go with the car. Just in case the perp is somewhere close..."

Aomine muttered. After informing the other officer, one at the entrance cubicle, that he would be taking the stalking victim home, Aomine took one of the station's cars to take Kise home. And no, he did not feel in the least bit happy that now he would know where the man lived, that would be very unprofessional. And a tad bit creepy too. He hated himself. He did not like being creepy. Not that he would do or try anything, he was not that kind of a man, he had never been that kind of a man, but even the thought of knowing making him happy felt wrong. He felt conflicted. They arrived at Kise's place apparently and it was one of the upscale tall buildings located at the other end of the neighbourhood; nothing Aomine could ever afford with his current salary, to be frank, not that he minded, he had never been a material person, somehow now it did stung a bit though. That was also how he realised just how modest the blond had been and thus he looked even more endearing...

Aomine escorted Kise right up to the door of his apartment, gave his card to the man and Kise panicked for a second,

"Could you, could you please wait here? I will be back! Just one second! Please don't go anywhere! Aominecchi, please, just one second!"

Aomine was not sure why the blond had panicked or begged him so much, if he said to wait one moment, Aomine would wait for one moment, he was not that much of a jerk, was he? Or did he seem like one? Well, he did seem angry most of the time, at least that was what others said... Before he could even finish his trail of thoughts, Kise was back again at the door, offering him a card.

"You didn't have to..." Aomine said though inside him, he did feel a little happy at the gesture.

"Oh but it is the proper etiquette. And please keep it! If you don't mind, that is... Please."

"Okay, I will. I will see if we can get some protection for you, it may be hard though, we are pretty busy normally... But yeah, I would suggest that if you have any friends, ask them to be with you today and tonight. Be careful outside these days. I already entered your complaint to the system last night, so prosecutor's office should have already received it. If you observe anything out of ordinary, receive strange calls or something, just give me a call on the number on the card. Be careful."

It was the usual set of statements he made to almost every such victim but he could not help feel a bit more protective than usual and hoped, really hoped inside that the stalker from last night had their leg broken or something and would just disappear... Kise on his part looked both very thankful and slightly sad and Aomine could not figure why, perhaps he was afraid.

It was very much out of ordinary for Aomine but it came so naturally at that moment, as they said their good byes, he reached out and patted the shoulder of the man in front of him; they were almost of the same age, they were both adults, they had almost the same height and the same build, why was he feeling so protective of this man as he would feel of a young child? It was stupid but the gesture had cleared away the slight frown that was tugging at the lips of the blond, he smiled fondly and slightly blushing, he mumbled,

"Please, um don't throw the card. Okay? Have a nice day. Thank you for taking care of me tonight."

"I said I won't. No problem, take care."

Aomine descended the stairs slowly and did not hear the sound of the door closing behind him until he had disappeared from the stairs of that floor completely; was his mind playing games on him? Or had Kise actually watched his back from his doorstep till it had disappeared? When he reached the car, he stayed inside for about 10 minutes or so, ensuring that nobody suspicious was in the area. It did not seem to be and Kise's building had extra security so he did not feel very bad for leaving.

When he reached the office back, people had started coming in, and they were already complaining about working in Christmas and Aomine never understood all this fuss about Christmas anyway. He was happy that his shift was over. He gathered up his stuff, punched in his hours in the online time card, and he was out the door in a few minutes. He could not wait to go home to his comfortable bed, and luckily he did not leave far away. On the way home, this thought kept him busy for a bit; they lived rather close, so how come he had not come across Kise in the streets? Well, he usually did not care about others, especially other men much so it was normal, perhaps. When he went home and lazily changed into more comfortable clothes, the card Kise gave him fell from the pocket of his jacket. He took it and chuckled to himself; the way blond had reminded him not to lose it was kind of endearing... He went to kitchen to place the card on the refrigerator, thinking that this would be the only way to not to lose it and it was only then he realised that something was written at the back of the card.

"Teach me how to play basketball? One-on-one?"

And a mobile phone number was scribbled underneath with a playfully winking emoticon, hand drawn. Aomine could not help laugh at the ridiculous cuteness of it all and then a smirk invaded his face and he thought that calling right away would look very uncool of him and why did he care to look cool in front of Kise he did not know or rather he knew but preferred to ignore now and he thought that he should, most definitely, call Kise in the afternoon, after sleeping a bit first...

He did call Kise that afternoon and Kise had picked up the phone with a yawn and upon hearing Aomine's voice had exclaimed in pure joy and excitement,

"Aominecchi!"

And Aomine thought, "_mercurial_"...

"_He is mercurial, indeed._"

And it suited Kise, a lot and Aomine thought that he liked it, a lot.


End file.
